


Hold Me Close

by queenlevana



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: And give them a happy ending, And hold hands and be gay, Fluff, Just let them talk about their feelings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28308165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenlevana/pseuds/queenlevana
Summary: Reggie didn’t even know his last name, and yet he wanted to know how Nick liked his coffee in the morning, and what his favorite movie was. He wanted to imagine a different universe, where they walked together in the hallways at school and were friends, or maybe something more.Or, three times Nick and Reggie couldn't hold hands, and one time they could.
Relationships: Nick & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Nick/Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 86
Collections: jatpdaily secret santa 2020





	Hold Me Close

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gayfangirltrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayfangirltrash/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, Rosee! I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it for you.

Reggie wasn’t expecting to be seen by anyone else in the school. After the stunt Julie and the boys pulled by playing Bright in the Los Feliz High gym, Reggie double-checked, performing a silly dance move in the hopes that someone would spot him. Nobody did.

So you could imagine his surprise when, moments before poofing out of the school hallways after Luke and Alex, he was startled by a scruffy blonde kid in a varsity jacket. The boy turned the corner and froze, recognition on his face. “Hey, you’re one of the guys in Julie’s band!” he exclaimed, and Reggie hoped being dead meant his face wouldn’t burn in embarrassment.

 _Crap, say something! Or disappear! Maybe poof out_ , Reggie implored, but panic left him frozen, mouth agape. Eventually, he nodded, realizing if he did something ghostly, it would cause more chaos.

“Your performance was amazing. And the stunt you pulled, disappearing like that? I’ve never seen that before.” The boy hesitated before asking, “How did you do it?”

“I, uh…” Reggie didn’t know how to answer. He never was much for technology — Bobby had forced him to make an AOL account back in the 90s — and Julie’s spiel about the band had flown over his head. Luckily, he was good at thinking on his feet, so he parroted the girl’s words back. “Holograms. It’s a bunch of complicated sciencey stuff.”

“Right.” The blonde looked suspicious of Reggie, but he didn’t ask anything else, and so Reggie sighed in relief.

“Well, anyways, I should get going,” Reggie said, fiddling with his necklace. He moved forward to slip past the boy, hoping to hide around the corner.

“Hey, wait!” the boy called, and Reggie spun around only to see him reach out for Reggie’s hand, and they both witnessed Reggie’s form ripple, and their palms slip right through each other. Reggie’s eyes widened, and he looked up to meet the boy’s equally panicked expression mirrored in his face.

“What…how…” the boy tilted his head up, looking for some kind of device like the one in the gym, and Reggie took the opportunity to bolt. He knew he could’ve disappeared, but the fear had set in, and all he could think of at the moment was getting away. He heard the boy yelling after him, but Reggie turned the corner, found himself in a dead-end, and finally poofed to the studio, gripping the door handle tight to steady himself.

It was only then, alone and outside in the warmth of the sun, that Reggie allowed himself to admit that he hadn’t minded being seen.

.

Reggie watched Julie run out of the school gym after telling them she was quitting the band. The words echoed in his head. _This was a mistake. Joining a band with you guys_ , and it ached in the place where Reggie’s heart was supposed to be, the pain worse than the strange jolts him and the boys had been hit with. He’d heard the words so many times before, thrown at him without any care for how he’d react: _You made a mistake, Reginald_ , or the ever delightful, _You’re a mistake_ , but he’d never expected to hear them come from someone he cared about so much. And the worst part was that he deserved it.

“We should get going,” Luke said, voice soft, and Alex nodded before the two poofed out, but Reggie sunk to the gym floor. He needed a moment alone, because he didn’t want to let the boys see him so fragile and broken. He pulled his legs close and rested his chin on his knees, wondering how the day could’ve played out if he’d been paying more attention for once.

“Julie? Flynn? Are you guys still here?” Reggie jerked his head at the familiar voice, and recognition dawned on him as he realized the boy who burst into the gym was the same kid who’d tried to grab his hand a week before in the school hallways. Their eyes met, and the boy hesitantly approached Reggie.

“Do you mind if I sit?” he asked carefully.

“Sure,” Reggie responded, before placing his head back on his knees.

“You’re not a hologram, are you?” the boy asked, and Reggie was too tired and furious and broken to try and give an excuse, so he just nodded.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about…that thing you did. With your hand,” the boy continued. “And how there had to be some other kind of explanation. But I didn’t wanna ask Julie, ‘cause she seemed stressed about tonight. What, uh…what are you?”

Reggie winced at the words. If it were any other day, Reggie wouldn’t mind answering. He’d think it were a bit funny to snark, “I ate a bad hot dog 25 years ago, and here we are now,” but for some reason the word ‘what’ hurt like a knife. He muttered, “I’m dead. I’m a ghost.”

“What’s your name?” the boy asked.

“Reggie.”

“I’m Nick. Nice to meet you.”

Reggie turned to Nick, confused, having expected some sort of pity response. Instead, the boy gave him a lopsided grin, and Reggie felt the tension in his chest loosen, just a little bit. “You’re not weirded out by that?”

“Nah. I’ve seen stranger things. Like this one time I caught a pelican dragging a half-eaten sub through an alleyway. Meeting a ghost is hardly anything new.”

Reggie didn’t know what to say to that, so he sat in silence, and Nick was quiet for a long time too.

“I didn’t _mean_ to do it,” Reggie finally spoke, his voice quavering a bit. He wasn’t sure why baring his soul out to a stranger felt right, but it did, and when Nick didn’t stop him, he continued. “None of us did. Time just slipped by, and before we knew it, we’d missed the gig with Julie. I feel like a terrible person. Well, not even that, because I’m not a person.”

“Of course you’re a person. I mean, you’re not a squirrel or anything.” Nick chuckled at his own joke. “People make mistakes. It happens. I should know – instead of sticking up for her, I ditched her for her nemesis. It’s why I came back.”

Reggie sighed. “I guess we’re both stuck in the same boat.”

“You could say that.”

“What do we do now? I’ve never…usually when I disappoint people, I just hide until it blows over. I’m not good at confrontation, really.”

“Well, we make it up to her.” Nick tilted his head to look at Reggie, and his deep turquoise eyes pierced through Reggie’s soul. “You convince her how much the band really means to you, and I’ll tell her I broke up with Carrie.”

The name Carrie sparked something in the back of Reggie’s mind, and he realized Julie’d mentioned her before – she was her ex-best friend, Bobby’s daughter. If Nick had the courage to break up with a Wilson, then Reggie would have to find some, too. “Okay. Okay, I can do that.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Nick stood up, and he held out a hand. Reggie moved unconsciously, trying to take it without realizing he couldn’t, and for the second time their hands missed each other.

“Sorry. I, uh, forgot.” Nick scratched his neck, embarrassed.

“It’s fine. You helped me plenty already.” Reggie jumped up, and he gave Nick a small, hesitant smile. When Nick matched it with a grin of his own, Reggie felt his heart flutter.

“I’ll see you around, then?”

Reggie nodded.

“Alright. Good luck, flannel.”

“Flannel?”

Nick blushed a bit. “Uh, sorry. I didn’t know your name when we met, so I just called you flannel…yeah.”

Reggie smirked. “Okay, fedora,” he responded, glancing up at Nick’s hat. “I’ll see you.”

And then he poofed away, feeling lighter than he had since he’d stumbled into Julie’s studio.

.

Reggie didn’t know how he’d ended up at the pier. He’d felt so sick after talking to Willie about their unfinished business, and then Luke ran off to the studio and Alex snuck into the Orpheum alone, so Reggie wandered off, not really knowing where to go. Eventually, he found a somewhat secluded part of the docks and sat down, legs dangling off the edge. _Don’t cry. You’re not going to cry_ , Reggie yelled in his head, forcibly swallowing the tears back. But it was hard when all he could think about was dying all over again. This time, it wouldn’t be quick and unexpected. It would be slow, and painful, and all the possible outcomes either ripped him of his family or his freedom, and Reggie just wanted it to be over soon.

“Flannel? Is that you?” Reggie spun around at the voice, and standing a few feet away from him was Nick, a soft smile on his lips. It faded when he saw Reggie’s broken expression, though, and Reggie knew he looked pathetic.

“Uh guys, go on ahead. I’ll catch up in a bit,” Nick called to a few people behind him, and they wandered off without another explanation. Reggie wondered what kind of friends Nick had if they didn’t question him talking to air.

Reggie turned around to look back out at the ocean, inky black and bottomless, and Nick sat down next to him. “Seems we’re always meeting in awkward circumstances.”

Reggie laughed, the sound wobbly as his throat was filled with mucus. “Sounds about right, fedora.”

“What’re you doing out here?” Nick asked.

Reggie didn’t know how to explain the jolts and the whole crossing over bit, so instead he responded by asking, “Have you ever wondered what happens when you die?”

Nick raised an eyebrow. “I mean, yeah, but now I know I’ll turn into a ghost, probably, so it’s not a question on my mind anymore.”

“I meant after,” Reggie said. “When you no longer…when you don’t have to stick around anymore.”

“Well…” Nick thought for a moment, his gaze on his hands as he picked at a loose thread on his sleeve. “I don’t know. I never really believed in heaven or hell, but maybe if you did everything right, you get to find your happy place.”

“Do you think…” Reggie was going to ask if he did everything right, but Nick wouldn’t be able to answer that, so he tried again. “Do you think the people I love will be there too?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“That’s good, then.”

Nick turned to him, his expression unreadable, his eyes reflecting the moonlight and looking as deep as the ocean. “You’re leaving soon, aren’t you?”

Reggie swallowed. “Yeah.”

“And to think, we just met.”

There were so many things Reggie wanted to say, and it shocked him. This was an absolute stranger – Reggie didn’t even know his last name, and yet he wanted to know how Nick liked his coffee in the morning, and what his favorite movie was. He wanted to imagine a different universe, where they walked together in the hallways at school and were friends, or maybe something more.

Reggie placed his hands on the pier and leaned back, and Nick unconsciously reached out to put his on top of Reggie’s. It passed right through, as it always did, and yet the strange tingling felt right somehow, and so neither of them moved. They simply watched the ocean waves roll by for a long time, comfortable in the silence.

.

Reggie woke up in a daze. He blinked, trying to orient himself. He was in the studio, wearing a black dress shirt, red vest, and slacks. _The Orpheum performance_. Reggie jerked upright without realizing he was laying on the couch, precariously balanced on top of Alex, and he crashed to the floor, the last remnants of sleep leaving him.

“Shit,” he muttered, standing up and rubbing his back. That had hurt.

Wait.

That had hurt?

“What the hell, Reg?” Alex muttered sleepily. The thud from his fall must’ve woken the drummer. “Why are you awake?”

“Why were we sleeping?” Reggie asked. “I thought we couldn’t.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” They both turned to look at Luke, curled up on an armchair alone. Julie must’ve headed back to her room late at night.

Reggie rushed forward, shaking the boy. “Dude. Dude, get up.”

“Whaddawant?” Luke mumbled. Alex and Reggie gave each other side glances – they’d forgotten how hard it was to wake him up.

Alex stumbled off the couch and moved next to Reggie. “Get up or no waffles for you!” he yelled, and Luke jolted forward.

“What? Waffles? Where?” Luke asked in a panic.

Alex sighed. “No waffles, man. We fucking slept.”

“So?”

“So, we can’t sleep!”

That was when Reggie felt it.

_Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum._

Alex and Luke were too busy arguing to notice Reggie’s hand against his chest as he stared out into nothingness.

“You’re always so fucking obsessed with food that you- uh, Reg?” Alex finally glanced his way. “You good?”

Reggie shook his head, eyes wide.

Alex glanced down at the hand on Reggie’s chest, and that was when he figured it out, too. “Luke. Luke, we’re alive.”

“What?”

“We’re alive! We’re fucking alive!”

That was when the studio door swung open. “Molina, you in here?”

Reggie spun around, still in too much of a shock to process that it was Nick standing there, holding a bouquet of flowers.

Nick finally spotted Reggie. “Oh, hey flannel. Sorry, I thought Julie might be in here, so I came to check before I went up to the house. What are you guys doing?”

Reggie turned to Alex and Luke, both looking about a million times more lost than Reggie. “Uh, can we go outside?” Reggie asked Nick, and then moved past the door without waiting for a response.

“What’s going on?” Nick asked as they stood face-to-face in the sun, looking concerned. “Did everything go okay last night? You were going to leave soon, right?” He swallowed hard. “Are you leaving now?”

For some absurd reason, Reggie started laughing. He completely lost it, his side shooting with pain from the surprising shortness of breath. Nick looked terrified, but Reggie couldn’t stop until tears started leaking out, and he finally caught his breath and met Nick’s eyes.

“What’s so funny?” Nick asked.

“Nothing. I just…” Reggie trailed off. There was so much to explain, so much he wanted to share with Nick, but he wasn’t sure what to say. So instead he took the flowers from Nick, set them on the ground, and wrapped his hands around the boy’s, enjoying the warmth emanating off his skin. He unraveled Nick’s fingers and gently traced the lines on his palm, enjoying the sensation of finally being able to feel someone, for once.

Nick looked up at him in shock. “You…I…we…you touched me. You’re touching me.”

Reggie grinned. “Yeah, I am.”

“H-how?”

“Dunno.” The two stared at each other, and Reggie lost himself in Nick’s gaze, thinking about how much he hadn’t known he’d wanted this until now.

Eventually, Nick sank to the ground, and Reggie followed, both refusing to let each other go. “Tell me everything,” Nick whispered.

“Okay. Well, my band and I ate these bad hot dogs, and—”

“No, not that,” Nick said, shaking his head. “I meant, I want to know who _you_ are. Tell me everything about yourself, flannel.”

And Reggie did.


End file.
